As well as Community members and chaplains who
have ministered to the Community since their earliest days at New
Hall, the cemetery is also the last resting place of a number of
lay people associated with the Community, including school children
who died whilst at school in New Hall. Further investigation into
some of these burials is particularly revealing, and can provide us
with a glimpse into what life must have been like for the Community
and for the children at the school. This also gives a good
illustration of the wealth of material that survives in the
Community archives, and what can be learn by studying several
different types of records at the same time.

Today's post
will focus on a particular tragedy that has been revealed during my
study of the cemetery, an outbreak of diphtheria at the school
during the 1890s. Diphtheria is a highly contagious throat
infection, that can severely restrict breathing due to inflammation
of the throat, similar to being strangled. Three young ladies
died of the infection during October 1893, two more were
dangerously ill, but recovered. Two of the maids who served the
Community were also ill, but recovered.

The
chantresses books, which function as a sort of Community diary,
provide some details of the atmosphere in the school as the disease
took hold:

The entry starts towards the bottom of the page,
and reads [words in square brackets added by me]:

13th
[October 1893]. Friday. Fr Heery anointed & gave H[oly]
Viaticum to little Ursula Kendal & Antonia Britten who were
suffering fr[om] diphtheria a relapse after scarletina they are up
in the High Nursery. Ursula Kendal died on Saturday morning the
bell was not tolled in order that Mary K[endal] her sister should
not know it. Mary K is also very ill. The remaining children have
dispersed today. Antonia Britten died at 10 o clock Sat: evening -
F[ather] H[eery] with her to the end.

15th. Sun.
Purity BVM. Father
Henry anointed & gave communion to Mary Kendal after 2nd
Men.Sarathe ^Two^ maids ^are
now^ illalso
with diphtheria ^not
bad^. K Hague is not as ill as MK. A trained nurse for diphtheria
came on Friday night.

16th.
Mon. Dirge for M M Antonia Britten & Ursula Kendal. Rang
to Dead Office 7 minutes to 8. Low Requiem Mass. The funeral put
off from 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 on account of the rain. We wore cloaks at
the office. The sisters served.

20th.
Friday. Mary Kendal died at 7 this morning. We had only one
Mass at 6 1/2 as Father Henry was obliged to take some
rest.

21st.
Sat. Dirge for Mary Kendal. Low Requiem Mass 8 1/2 after the
Dead Office. We wore cloaks. The funeral was at 3 1/2. We
went.

29th.
Sun. Susan Wye has been taken to the school ill with
diphtheria.

10th
[November 1893]. Friday. Susan Wye received the Last
Sacraments late in the evening. After evening prayers some time.

The notes added by the chantress give some
indication of the rapidity of the infection - the entry for 15th
October was hurriedly changed from "Sara the maid" ill with
diphtheria to "two maids now ill" within a day, and also suggests
that they recovered quite rapidly, as this was soon replaced with
"not bad". It is unclear where the infection came from, or when it
was first apparent, but the Community reacted rapidly. The majority
of the children at the school were sent home to their parents, for
their protection, by 13 October. The 1891 census, taken only
2 years earlier, reveals that there were then 28 children at the
school, ranging in age from 17 to 7:

Children
listed at New Hall on 1891 census:

Gwendoline Blake, 16

Alice Broadbent, 17

Annie Costello, 11

Carmen de Arteine, 16

Mary Gordons, 14

Mary Kendal,
14

Agnes Kendal, 11

Ursula Kendal,
9

Irene King, 17

Ursula King, 11

Mary Langley, 7

Mary Lynch, 10

Lila Main, 15

Margaret Murray, 16

Eileen O'Connell, 16

Kathleen O'Connell,
15

Edith O'Connell, 11

Bertha Rooke, 16

Edith Rooke, 14

Mary Ryan, 15

Grace Stoker, 12

Charlotte Thunder, 11

Angela Weld, 16

Ethel Stevenson, 17

Lily Ward, 16

Mary Warrington, 15

Maude Whyte, 15

Sarah Wolfe, 17

Two young girls from this list, Mary
and Ursula Kendal, died during the diphtheria outbreak, Ursula on
14 October and Mary on 20 October, then aged 14 and 17
respectively. The school records note that Agnes and Ursula both
had measles in May 1893, and Ursula had also suffered from scarlet
fever in September 1893, before

being affected by the diphtheria outbreak. The other sister, Agnes,
left New Hall in July 1896, and had professed her vows and became a
member of the Community as S. Mary Margaret, where she remained
until her death in 1935. She is also buried in the cemetery at New
Hall.

A third young lady, Antonia Britten,
also died during the diphtheria outbreak in 1893, but she was not
listed on the census as she had only arrived in the school less
than a year earlier, on 23 November 1892, along with her sister
Helen. They were joined at New Hall by their younger sister Blanche
in April 1893. Similarly to Ursula, Antonia had also been attacked
by scarlet fever only a few weeks earlier, and had contracted
diphtheria during her recovery. Antonia's sister Helen was also
dangerously ill with diphtheria, which manifested itself shortly
after her parents had removed her from the school. Helen received
the last sacrament, but recovered, and was back at school with her
sister Blanche by Easter 1894.

Although this is a sad tale that has
been revealed from my research in to the cemetery, it has also
revealed the wealth of material there is available in the archive,
and the stories that can be unlocked with a little bit of
perseverance and some digging through old records! The story that I
have been able to uncover and share with you above has been pieced
together from lots of little snippets in a range of records,
starting with a simple inscription on a gravestone.